En-Nesyri sinks Manchester United as Sevilla continue streak against Red Devils

Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri scored twice for Sevilla as they knocked out Premier League giants Manchester United in the quarterfinal of the UEFA Europa League. 

Despite the LaLiga team’s struggles this season, they were resoundingly better than Manchester United as they came out with a 3-0 victory to reach the Europa League semifinals. 

The first leg in Manchester saw a dramatic comeback by Sevilla, who scored twice in the last 10 minutes of the game to get a 2-2 draw. 

The Red Devils were without a number of key players for the second leg and the absences of players like Bruno Fernandes, Raphael Varane, and Lisandro Martinez was telling as Sevilla ran riot thanks in part to more errors from Manchester United trying to build from the back. 

The teams had hardly settled into the game when a horrendous control and pass from Harry Maguire fell to former Tottenham man Erik Lamela who found a way to get the ball to En-Nesyri who smashed a low effort past De Gea. 

Maguire’s own goal in the first leg gave Sevilla an equaliser, and in the second leg, he resumed his friendliness to Sevilla by gifting them control of the tie. 

Manchester United were almost two goal behind at the end of the first half when Lucas Ocampos found the back of the net, but the Red Devils’ blushes were saved by VAR spotting an offside in the build-up. 

The sides went into the break 1-0 down on the night, and were lucky they were not behind by more. 

Their luck ran out in the second half when Loïc Bade scored the second for Sevilla after only two minutes of the restart. 

En-Nesyri made any hopes of Manchester United making a comeback a foregone conclusion when he benefitted from another De Gea error to make it 3-0 to Sevilla on the night and 5-2 on aggregate, ensuring a comeback was virtually impossible. 

The win over Manchester United was Sevilla’s third in five games, with the Spanish side still awaiting a first defeat against the Red Devils. 

It is also the sixth time Manchester United have been eliminated from Europe by a Spanish team in their last seven exits from the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, three of which have come against Sevilla.